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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010Is there a difference between squished and squashed.
I bought a new video card for the computer that would allow me to connect my tv to a second output, and while the image on the tv was correct, eventually the image on the monitor became compressed. The top inch and bottom inch were black and the part in the middle was squished. ATI help lists four possible problems prominently, one of which is "If the image on your monitor changes or looks squashed". Squished seems to me to be more precise than squashed, but I don't know why. What say you, English mavens?  SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > I bought a new video card for the computer that would allow me to > connect my tv to a second output, and while the image on the tv was > correct, eventually the image on the monitor became compressed. The > top inch and bottom inch were black and the part in the middle was > squished. ATI help lists four possible problems prominently, one of > which is "If the image on your monitor changes or looks squashed". > Squished seems to me to be more precise than squashed, but I don't > know why. > What say you, English mavens? In BrE, "squished" would, I think, be considered to be slang, and probably not be used in a technical document. With best wishes, Peter. SignaturePeter Young, (BrE, RP), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004. (US equivalent: Certified Anesthesiologist) Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. Now happily retired. http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk >> I bought a new video card for the computer that would allow me to >> connect my tv to a second output, and while the image on the tv was [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >In BrE, "squished" would, I think, be considered to be slang, and >probably not be used in a technical document. I agree. I would have guessed that "squish" was a modern-ish invention, and I would have been wrong. OED: squish, v. [Imitative: cf. SQUISH-SQUASH. In sense 1 perh. a modified form of SQUISS v. or SQUIZE v.] 1. trans. To squeeze, to squash. Now dial. and colloq. 1647 HEXHAM I, To Squise or squish, wrijven. 2. a. intr. Of water, soft mud, etc.: To give out a peculiar gushing or splashing sound when walked in or on; to gush up, squirt out, with such a sound. a1825 FORBY Voc. E. Anglia s.v., The water squishes under our feet in the grass, if it be walked on too soon after rain. b. Of a person, etc.: to proceed or make one's way with a squishing sound. colloq. 1952 Sun (Baltimore) 9 July 30/4 (caption) Soaked to the point of not caring, this waterlogged pedestrian squishes his way across a downtown street. Hence squishing vbl. n. 1647 HEXHAM I, A squising or squishing together. Ibid., A squising or squishing out. squiss, v. Obs. rare. [Of obscure origin: cf. SQUISH v. 1 and SQUIZE v.] trans. To squeeze or crush. Hence squissed ppl. a. 1558... squize, v. Obs. [Of obscure origin: cf. SQUEEZE v., SQUISS v.] trans. To squeeze, in various senses. Common from c 1560 to c 1620. 1548... SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) >>> I bought a new video card for the computer that would allow me to >>> connect my tv to a second output, and while the image on the tv was [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >>In BrE, "squished" would, I think, be considered to be slang, and >>probably not be used in a technical document. Even squashed doesn't sound very technical. If they wanted to be technical they'd say compressed. >I agree. I agree too, except it's a computer help file and computer folk aren't so insistent on standard English. For example, Eudora has a button named Blah-Blah-Blah. Now that I think some more, I see aquished as squeezed, made smaller, but I see sqashed as squsiehd to death, like a beetle. >I would have guessed that "squish" was a modern-ish invention, and I I would have thought so too. >would have been wrong. > [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > Common from c 1560 to c 1620. > 1548... SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > I bought a new video card for the computer that would allow me to > connect my tv to a second output, and while the image on the tv was [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > What say you, English mavens? While you're at it, my dialect has a similar word pronounced "squooshed" with "oo" as in "book". Do others (AmE and/or BrE) have a word with that pronunciation? And if so, how do you *spell* it. (FWIW, Google has 60,300 hits for "squooshed", but suggests that I might have meant "squashed".) Signature--------------------------- | BBB b \ Barbara at LivingHistory stop co stop uk | B B aa rrr b | | BBB a a r bbb | Quidquid latine dictum sit, | B B a a r b b | altum videtur. | BBB aa a r bbb | ----------------------------- >While you're at it, my dialect has a similar word pronounced "squooshed" >with "oo" as in "book". Here's how the words are shaded in my mind: Squashing compresses something fairly uniformly, with a lot of force, usually in one direction at a time, and usually not by very much. Papers are squashed into a notebook, or clothes into a suitcase. Squishing squeezes something irregularly so it flows out, or into a shape that's very thin in one or two dimensions. Clay is squished between fingers, or squished into a snakelike shape. Something soft is squished flat, though something harder to flatten would have to be squashed flat. Squooshing envelops something soft, like a pillow or a cat. ¬R \\\ http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/bsinl.html /// T E A M W O R K Together Everyone Achieves More Worthless Objectives, Reducing Knowledge > Here's how the words are shaded in my mind: Squashing compresses > something fairly uniformly, with a lot of force, usually in one direction [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > harder to flatten would have to be squashed flat. Squooshing envelops > something soft, like a pillow or a cat. I agree with you about squish, noting that as a noun it's the sound made by shoes tramping through soft mud. Squoosh is the sound made when you stomp on a bug so, to me, squoosh is a total flattening. Squash does not make a sound, so it's the nonspecific term. SignatureJohn Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email > >While you're at it, my dialect has a similar word pronounced "squooshed" > >with "oo" as in "book". [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > ¬R \\\ http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/bsinl.html /// T E A M W O R K > Together Everyone Achieves More Worthless Objectives, Reducing Knowledge And then there's squushed. Short u (AmE terminology) as in bus. Spelling? Who ever writes squooshed or squushed? They're fun to say, in informal situations. <snip> > Squished seems to me to be more precise than squashed, but I don't > know why. I recently heard a CBC report from Haiti mentioning a "squished" car; I thought they should have said "squashed". To me "squish" implies (or presupposes) softness -- and perhaps wetness -- in the the object, and has a slightly childish flavour. The latter may be because I perceive it to be more obviously onomatop¦ic than "squash", less readily applicable to things that wouldn't make such a sound. SignatureOdysseus |
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